Dash Fieldpaint Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 DC members today are about 100 times more talented than 30 years ago. I disagree with this. Take the members of 1978 SCV and give them the 2008 equipment, show, and staff, and they could probably pull it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
washingtoncorpsfan Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Yeah, those performers in the '60s and '70s had NOTHING. They totally didn't pave the way for current corps or have amazing chops. Nope...total crap. (Please, vets, note the sarcasm) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorps00 Posted July 5, 2008 Author Share Posted July 5, 2008 Hello Thanks for the replies. As I read through the responses I see some similar topics arising again and again. Those who do not enjoy the marching band/drum corps comparison are not fond of it because 1) They feel drum corps is an elitist activity compared to marching band 2) They have some baggage on the narration issue. This is curious to me as I never mentioned Narration in my post I also enjoyed one poster who mentioned how he took to Drum corps because there were no electronics or woodwinds. I found this to be an interesting answer and though I cannot tell that poster why they became a fan of drum corps, I find that answer hard to believe. So to reply. The best marching bands are better that the worst drum corps, much better. I also believe that the best marching marching bands are better than some lower World class corps. In my post I did mention something to the extend of the best drum corps are better than the best marching bands. It appears we have a Aristocracy/Peasant attitude in the drum corps world about band. We see ourselves as great and noble and though we need the peasants to survive and we live off their backs, we see them as a lower class who are not worthy of our prestige. The connections between drum corps and marching band are too great to say that they are not akin. The drum corps activity is in trouble. Recently the DCI board sought to create a new business plan to get back in the black. Support every single corps if you really love drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndzoneEric Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 And once again I state, anyone who can mistake a marching band and a drum corps, whether in a parade, a field performance or rehearsal is simply blind and beyond helping. Let them fall behind to cull the herd. By their very definition, all drum corps are marching bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbc03 Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 You know, there is an "Old Farts" section somewhere where you guys can get together and stroke each other off about how great you all were in 1975. Thanks, I've heard the recordings. I'll take narration.Tell me something, all of you, "This isn't real drum corps" crowd--when you entered the activity in the 1970's, were the old farts then so nasty as you people have been ever since I came into the activity in 91? I mean, every other word out of your mouths is, "Star bought their seat at the table." Or, "This isn't drum corps." Or, "We were better when we were from the neighborhood!" Puhleeezz!! Simple statistics lesson that I've droned on about a couple times at least. If you take 128/135/150 people and put them together and compare a group of people that are in the closest proximity to one another versus a national sampling by audition of the best qualified people, the national sampling wins every time. DC members today are about 100 times more talented than 30 years ago. DC recordings are about 1,000 times better. Designers in both the DC universe and the MB universe are largely veterans of DCI and are driving the respective activities. And Directors in high schools are many times more likely to be vets of DCI corps today than back then. And staff of the corps are more likely to be degreed, educated, certified, experienced MB directors if not university profs. How many University profs on staff in 1975? Plus, corps are in no better financial situation than they were 30 years ago, so you have absolutely no ground to make baseless claims like, "This ain't drum corps." And with as many DCI vets who have moved in and taken over the MB universe, why are we surprised that the MB activity wouldn't be more creative and forward thinking that DCI? Better title for such threads: "How drum corps passed by the 70's crowd without their ever knowing it." And once again I state, anyone who can mistake a marching band and a drum corps, whether in a parade, a field performance or rehearsal is simply blind and beyond helping. Let them fall behind to cull the herd. We don't always agree, but by golly I like your style Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemoirMike Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Is Hardball the same as Softball ? Is the NFL the same as College Football ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baristeve Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 This argument is dumb. marching band is marching band drum corps is drum corps done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g0at Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 (edited) The only reason the seperation between marching band and drum corps exists is because people WANT it to exist. You can go to a websters dictionary and spell out the difference in the " definition". But that is not how words get their meaning. Words retain meaning by their shared normative use. They are different , that is true. My question to the people who marched before the 90s or 80s, why does it matter that the activity is changing? it has ALWAYS changed. Why impose your opinion on the activity as it was, simply based on the idea that " IT WAS X and now it is Y" Edited July 5, 2008 by g0at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dash Fieldpaint Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 This argument is dumb.marching band is marching band drum corps is drum corps done. Actually, this is how I see it: Drum Corps = Drum Corps Marching band (modern competitive marching band) = Drum Corps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bad Bari Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Well I am certainly one of those dinosaurs from way back when but I have never seen a big difference in the two! Drum Corps back when I did it, was more of a "from the streets" type of mentality, yes we had a few imports but most were from our local area and were basically street kids. We were tough, rough, competetive and angry... (not sure why we were angry! lol) Marching Band... which was also something I did was more of a softer kinder version where we were in school and acted as such... I enjoyed both and feel they both shaped me toward the future but... I really didn't see much of a difference except for the trombone in band... Yes there are performance and ability differences but as far as the two things go albeit a bit of a suspect source of information Wikipedia uses "Marching Band" as a descriptor for Drum Corps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.